Sunday, September 30, 2012

Life in the Herendeen household has been
absolutely crazy lately. No joke. We’re
taking the “a lot on your plate” thing to a whole new level. If you had to
compare our “plate” with something, it’d be like those flimsy paper plates
filled to the brim at the church potluck type of thing. You know, when you
start piling food on top of other food (maybe I’m the only one who does that…
but, still, you get what I mean…).

Don’t get me wrong—it’s not bad. It’s just
crazy. And I guess you’re probably thinking somewhere along the lines of why?

Well, good question. We’ll get back to that. J

First, I want to throw this out there—when I
started this blog, it was with the full intention that I would write primarily
about finances. Finances, budgeting, and organizing paperwork are things that I’m
really, really good at. I’m not saying that to brag or be in your face or
anything like that. It’s just something that comes naturally to me. You give me
a dollar amount earned, what bills need to be paid, and a pile of paperwork,
and I’m right in my element. I’ll have it straightened out in a few hours tops.
So since that’s one of my passions, I wanted to take that and do something good
with it. I know there are a lot of
people who don’t excel in that area (trust me… there’s lots of things I don’t
excel in… we’ll actually get to some of that in a bit!), and I wanted to help
them. I hate hearing how people are broke, are living paycheck to paycheck, or
don’t know how they’re going to put food on the table. It breaks my heart. But
while I do still intend to write a lot about finances, probably more so than
other areas, I’ve also come to realize that it’s really hard to have your
financial life in shape if other areas aren’t. It doesn’t make sense (or cents
haha) to have a super-organized budget and desk, but a disaster area kitchen.
You’ve got to get other areas of your life together, too, in order to have
successful finances, at least in my opinion.

So, where does that bring us? Well, I think now
would be a good time to explain why life in the Herendeen household is a wee
bit on the crazy side…

The short version—we have a lot going on. But I
guess I already said that with the whole plate analogy. J The long version—well,
here we go:

1.)The
biggest reason why life is crazy is because I am going through a really, really
big job change. Corey and I prayed a ton, crunched numbers, and thought long
and hard and, in the end, decided that it would be best for our family for me
to stay home with Tate. As a result, about a month and a half ago, we started
to set in motion the groundwork for making this happen. I talked to a few
friends about babysitting their children and started to get that set up. Corey
and I worked our butts off and paid off a lingering credit card debt that was
hanging over our heads to free up some money each month. And I put in notice at
work that I would be leaving.

It’s funny, because as
much as I know this is the right
decision, telling work was extremely hard. I felt so guilty. I work for a
wonderful company and they’ve been very good to me. I love the people I work
with. But it was killing me leaving Tate every morning—I would literally cry
every day, and that’s not healthy—for him, or for me. Of course, when I did
tell work, they completely understood and were incredibly supportive (I told
you they’re great!). I told them I would stay on until my replacement was hired
and trained. This coming week will be my last, and I’ll start babysitting
October 15th. It’s scary, but also very exciting.

2.)So,
we’re also getting everything set up for me to babysit! Like I said, I am so, so
very excited about this. I think it will be wonderful
for Tate, wonderful for me, and I
really hope that I will be able to make a great impact on the life of some
great little kids. Throughout my entire growing up, my mom babysat, so I know
firsthand that life as a babysitter can be crazy, but also very rewarding. I
have some really awesome kids lined up, which I know is a huge blessing in and
of itself. I truly can’t wait. Like I said, it is a little scary, but I have no
doubt in my mind that everything will work out.

Of course, this
adjustment does require some work. While our house is set up fine for one
little boy, it wasn’t exactly in ideal condition to have multiple little ones
on a regular basis. So, that meant some decent changes to our little abode.
Most of them are basic re-organizing and re-arranging. We built a new storage
area/TV stand for our living room, are working on some cubbies and such for our
entryway, and made our dining room table a bit smaller so I could fit a train
table and other toys in as well, just to name a few of the small little jobs. But…
there are a few biggies…

3.)Like
a bathroom remodel! Let me start off by saying this probably wasn’t my
brightest idea ever. We had a completely functioning bathroom. But I decided that we needed a bathtub
in our house, and, even more, I wanted to do it while I knew we’d have the
money to afford it. So, the gut job began. We took out the toilet and sink, and
ripped out the shower. It was messy. It was crazy. But, it is coming along.
Everything but the sink is up and running and the sink should be done
(hopefully) today. After that we’ll just have to build a shelf in our corner
cubby area, paint, and do some general organizing and whatnot. The goal is to
have all of that accomplished by my first day of babysitting (keep your fingers
crossed!).

This is a "before" of our bathroom-- we had already started to take some stuff apart, so it's not in the best of the best shape, but it gives you an idea of where we're coming from! :) Eventually I plan on doing a post entirely about just our bathroom adventure, and when that happens, you'll get "during" and "after" photos too!

Oh, and we also built a
closet. One of the er, wonderful things about our little place is that, prior
to the bathroom remodel, there was not a single closet. Zip. Zilch. Nada. So, I
decided it would be awesome to take a bit of space from our bathroom, and give
it to Tate’s bedroom (which is right next door), to give him a closet. I’m incredibly excited about this. It needs
finished out, but I can’t wait to get our little man’s clothes and other
miscellaneous items transferred over! J

4.)We
also bought a truck. During our bathroom remodel, it became very apparent that
trips to Menards, Lowes, and Home Depot went a lot better when there was a
truck involved. Corey started a bit of a search on Craigslist, not really with
the intention of us getting one yet… we just wanted to see what was out there. Well, of course we found one at a great
price that was exactly what we were looking for… so we took the jump. As a
result, there are four vehicles sitting at the Herendeen household at this
moment (but trust me—we’ll be narrowing that down to two soon!)

This is a pic of the new truck :)

5.)And,
in case all of that wasn’t enough, Corey’s job is going through shift
realignment. He’ll still be working nights, but it’ll be the opposite nights
that he works now (yes, it’s incredibly confusing… basically, he works a
similar to schedule to what nurses do with twelve hour shifts).

6.)I
guess we could technically throw in that Monday is our two year anniversary,
and the 4th is my grandparent’s fiftieth and my parent’s twenty-sixth!
Tonight Corey and I are going out to dinner (yay for my parents keeping
Tatey-kins!) and coming up soon, we’re planning a weekend getaway to Cincinnati
to celebrate my grandparent’s huge accomplishment (FIFTY—wow!!!!).

So how does this all relate to my blog and any
of what I’ve talked about? Well… like I said earlier, I think the rest of your
life also needs to be in a semblance of order for your financial world to make
sense. Right now, the rest of my life is not
in order, and I can definitely tell when I go to pay my bills each week.

And now is where we really get into it—I’m
committing myself to get the rest of my life in order, and to share the journey
with you. If you want to join in, that’s awesome. I’d love to hear about what
you’re doing and how it’s going. If not, you can just use me for entertainment
purposes, and that’s fine too! J

Which, I might as well disclose this up front—you
know how I said I’m really, really good at finances, budgeting, and organizing
paperwork? Well, I’m really, really not good
and organizing stuff. All the stuff our house has accumulated during
our two years of living here—well, I don’t know what to do with it. I take a
look at it all and feel completely lost. Paralyzed. Granted, it doesn’t help
that there’s so much going on that I don’t really have a lot of time or energy
to stay on top of it all (or that we don’t have closets!).

Luckily, I have an awesome mama. While my mom
doesn’t do so hot at the paperwork side of things, she kicks butt at organizing
stuff. So, we’re employing some good
old fashioned team work. Yesterday she came in and helped me start to get
everything in a bit more order. With her help, I’m making my to-do list a DONE
list! We’ve gone from disaster area, to looking pretty darn presentable! J

Okay… so to wrap this realllllly long (sorry!)
blog post up—as I go along this journey of getting things in order, I’ll share
it with you. Currently, I have a few projects brewing—a home management binder
(yay, Pinterest!), a recipe binder, the cubbies for the entryway, getting Tate’s
room in better working order, and finishing up the bathroom, just to start. So,
stay tuned for some fun ideas, tips, and, if all else fails, laughs! J

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Okay, okay-- I've been a HUGE slacker. I can't believe I haven't posted since July... yikes!

But, I guess, once again, better late than never, right?

Well, hopefully...

So, I guess I might as well finish out my "food" series... with, as promised, healthiness! And I might as well get this out there from the beginning-- I'm awful at eating healthy. Part of it is because most of the foods I love the most are far from healthy. Part of it is because I feel like I'm twenty-four years old... I should be able to enjoy food. And in large part it's because growing up I could literally eat whatever I wanted to and it didn't matter. I never had a problem with what I ate impacting my weight until after I had Tate. Well, let me tell you, it's a big adjustment. It's hard knowing that a donut will go straight to my hips/butt/thighs, when it used to not matter!

But enough of my pity party. Here's what I do to try to stay healthy without breaking the bank:

1) Weight watchers. I'll admit it-- I haven't been doing this as diligently as I should. But, I did sign up for weight watchers online, and I do pay the monthly fee. I even have the app on my phone. In the beginning, I was rocking it out and I lost 8 pounds in the first three weeks. Then things got busy with our bathroom remodel, and it sort of fell apart. I am hoping to get back at it... hopefully mid-October things will settle back down in the Herendeen household!

2) Zumba. So I've never done an actual class, but we got Kinect for our x-box awhile back, and I really do enjoy doing the zumba with that. It's not a crazy-intense workout, but it allows for some good cardio, and I can tell that it helps.

And those are the main things. I've done Curves in the past, and that helped a TON (that's how I lost the baby weight between Tate's birth and the wedding). Unfortunately, my schedule didn't fit well with our local curves hours, so it quickly became not worth the money. I might go back in the future, but right now it's not gonna happen. I also try to eat veggies and fruit daily, although this can be challenging, especially with a husband who doesn't want to eat anything green or good for him! :) But we are working on it... and hopefully I'll keep getting better. I really do want to start running, too. I used to love running in high school and even college, but I haven't really gotten back into it since having Tate. I know I really just need to make the leap and do it... so here's hoping! :)

But anyway... my to-do list is about ten miles long, and I'm going to be honest... I'm mega distracted right now, so this is probably far from my best post. I think I'll leave it at that, but give you the heads up that I plan on posting tomorrow and hopefully it'll rock your socks off! :)